Early days yet to talk of seat-sharing with KJP: Pralhad Joshi

State Bharatiya Janata Party president Pralhad Joshi said it was too early to discuss seat-sharing with the Karnataka Janata Paksha.

Talking to presspersons on the sidelines of a party function here on Wednesday evening, he said though the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party was not averse to the return of Mr. Yeddyurappa to the party, a final decision on the matter will be taken only by the BJP’s national leadership.

He clarified that it was not the BJP that was seeking a merger with the KJP, but that a few leaders of the KJP had come out with the offer of a merger, which the State unit had conveyed to its national leadership.

Strategy

Mr. Joshi said the BJP core committee was meeting in Bangalore on Friday, during which a strategy would be worked out to take on the Congress on the illegal mining issue and pressure the government to drop the Ministers who are facing allegations of indulging in illegal mining activities.

He said the party had already demanded the sacking of Minister of State for Infrastructure Santosh Lad in the light of allegations of involvement in illegal mining activities.

KJP for 11 seats

Meanwhile, the Karnataka Janata Paksha has decided to contest at least 11 of the 28 parliamentary constituencies in Karnataka.

However, a final decision will be taken after talks with the NDA. In fact, it has already announced to ally with it in the LS polls.

This decision was taken at the 19th executive committee of the KJP held on September 18 and the party leaders have already started touring these constituencies.

Recently, a party workers’ conference was held in Davangere. KJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa will address party workers and leaders in Belgaum on September 30, Hubli on October 3 and Gulbarga on October 9, said MLC and KJP’s State general secretary M.D. Laxminarayana.

Mr. Laxminarayana said the KJP has taken a firm decision against a merger with the BJP.